Ingrid followed the friendly fighter in a very long hook through the sky, lining up far behind the airship. Ingrid deployed the air brakes and flaps, allowing the other pilot to pull far ahead. When he got close, he also deployed his flaps and slowed down, following behind the airship albeit traveling much faster. The runway on the roof of the airship was quite long, about as long as the airfield on the ground where she had practiced.

After the other pilot left the runway, Ingrid lined up and accelerated, following the airship. The higher altitude, thinner air, and lower airspeed was compensated by the fact that the airship was moving forward also. She performed a relatively standard landing, as she had practiced with Glenice. This seemed to confuse the crew on the deck. Men ran around wearing brightly-colored vests and holding batons in their hands. She didn't understand the signs they were making with those batons, but she assumed they wanted her to pull off the runway and park.

She stopped awkwardly, dismissed the Fire Elemental, and opened the canopy. Soon soldiers arrived with a ladder and hooked it onto the open canopy.

"You are in violation of protocol, soldier. Who is your Sergeant?"

Ingrid was trying to cover up as best as she could. The soldier regarded her.

"I don't know," she replied. "I was serving under Lieutenant Cole. He might be dead."

"Stay here."

After a while a second soldier appeared. A woman. She handed Ingrid a fresh shirt.

"Come with me," she said.

Ingrid grabbed her sack of crystals, awkwardly climbed out of the fighter, and even more awkwardly climbed down the ladder. She hoped that nobody was looking at her too closely. She tried to adopt a shy, uncertain gait as she followed the woman. A few glances around the deck told her that nobody was really paying attention to her. The little Light Elemental floated nearby.

They cannot see me, the Elemental said in Ingrid's mind.

Inside the airship the hallways were more restricted. The woman led Ingrid to a series of narrow hallways. There were oval bulkheads spaced out that required a bit of a hop to fit through. Soon these hallways were lined with bunks, and at the end there was a long, tiled room with a row of showers along the wall. The soldier opened a compartment on the wall and took out a bar of soap, handing it to Ingrid.

"Can I have some privacy?" Ingrid asked.

"I'm going to get your new uniform. Hurry up, but stay here."

Ingrid spilled her gems on the tiles below her and began to shower, allowing the soapy water to pour down over them. She hid the light crystal in her closed palm. When the soldier returned she regarded the gems and said: "Leave those here. Get dressed."

After putting on a shirt, Ingrid hid the light crystal in the chest pocket.

The woman led Ingrid through the bulkhead-lined hallways once more, to a stairwell that spiraled up and up. Ingrid passed a window and could see the deck just below her. The stairs continued to spiral above, however. When they reached the top, the soldier led her through a short series of hallways to a large, ornate door.

"In here," she commanded.

The room beyond the door was somewhat dim, though lit with the pale light of large, circular clock-like devices. A man in a stiff uniform sat in a tall chair, black wood gilded with gold filigree. Another man, possibly the pilot that Ingrid had seen, stood at his side. A few other men stood in the room in front of consoles covered in gauges. Those gauges had a variety of red and black markings behind the needles. One wall was lined entirely with round portholes. A few brass tubes penetrated up through the floor, ending in horn-like openings, and large telescopes were mounted on poles. There was a large black steering wheel, like the ones found on old wooden ships. A man stood holding the wooden pegs, peering out through a porthole into the open sky.

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"You are dismissed," the man in the chair said, gesturing to the woman. She left. "What is your name and rank?" the man asked.

"Junior Airman Ingrid."

"Junior Airman Ingrid, I am the Captain of this vessel. Please follow me. Both of you." He pointed to the other pilot.

The Captain led them both around a bend to a second, large door. This door opened to an unoccupied room. There was a large, square table in the center of the room, covered in tan paper charts. There were a few cushioned chairs surrounding the table.

"Have a seat," the Captain said. When they were seated, he said: "Did you see the portal close?"

"I closed it, Captain," Ingrid.

"Please describe how you closed the portal," he said. "In fact, describe in detail everything that happened once you entered the portal."

Do not reveal the true method, said the voice of the Light Elemental in Ingrid's mind.

Ingrid told the story of the two fighter jets. She changed the story slightly, claiming that both fighters were destroyed by Ice-Two missiles, and did not mention firing Dark-Three missiles at them. Then she explained the floating crystals slowly rotating around the inside of the portal. She claimed that there were workers riding on those crystals, and she was able to target those people with her Dark-Three missiles. After destroying two of the crystals, the portal began to collapse. Finally, she explained in detail what it looked like inside the portal, with the sand dunes, floating castles, the giant turquoise moon, and the enemy airship fleet.

The Captain asked her to explain it all again. So she explained it all again, adding more details about the Plane of Wind, including the shifting winds and the nebulous clouds in the space beyond the moon.

The Captain turned to the other pilot. "This corroborates what you said."

"Yes Captain, I saw her fly into the portal with four missiles and I saw the burning wreckage of at least one enemy falling across the face of the portal as I was flying near it. When she left the portal, it collapsed. Her description of the inside is perfect, sir."

The Captain nodded. Then he pulled out a pistol and shot Ingrid.

Light. Brilliant, brilliant light filled the room.

Malice

Ingrid had instinctively raised her arms, as if she could block a bullet, the instant she saw the gun pointed at her. The bullet however never reached her, instead hitting a barrier of golden light that manifested in between her and the Captain.

Malice

A ghostly figure appeared, standing on top of the table, made from a pale yellow mist. It was the shape of a woman wearing heavy armor, holding a tower shield and carrying an enormous sword in one hand. The Captain looked horrified.

"No, impossible," the Captain said. He was breathing hard. "The medals! The medals should be mine! The first confirmed kill in another world!? The honors should be mine! Not... not some commoner!"

The Elemental stabbed the Captain in the face with the sword. He went limp instantly. Where the sword had struck, the skin was glowing with a brilliant light, as if the Captain's insides were made of some other plane of existence, spilling out into the world. This light began to spread, consuming his body. The other pilot panicked and ran for the door.

Malice

With a lightning-fast swing of the sword the other pilot also collapsed. Once again the light consumed his body. The Captain, now almost completely made out of glowing golden mist, disintegrated. The body vanished completely, leaving only a spattering of gems on the ground. A similar fate awaited the pilot.

Ingrid stood in an empty room filled with charts. Eyes wide, she pointed to the table.

"Can you summon my crystals here?" she asked.

After a pause, beads of light appeared across the table. They grew, taking on the shape of her crystals. Then the light faded, leaving her crystals behind. She picked up the Captain's crystals as well, and pooled them into a pile in the center of a chart.

"Bind them all to me," she said.

It is done.

She grabbed the chart by the corners and lifted them, spinning them together to make a makeshift bag for all the crystals. She calmly opened the door and walked, unescorted, back through the room with the ship's wheel. Nobody seemed to notice her, or the bag of crystals by her leg.

Find another machine, fly to the other portal. Close it.

As Ingrid wandered through the narrow halls, almost tripping on bulkheads, she muttered: "these are horrible people!"